MUSKEGON, MI – The national spotlight will be back on the
Singing Christmas Tree concert, said Shawn Lawton, the choir teacher at Mona
Shores High School, which puts on the production each year.

The Singing Christmas Tree, shown in the Frauenthal Theater in Muskegon. The Travel Channel will tape rehearsals and Thursday's performance for a new holiday special set to air next year.Chronicle file photo

Two years ago, the cable network TLC filmed the concert for
its "Extreme Christmas Trees" show, but this time, the Travel Channel will film
a segment of a new show called "Christmas Showdown," which is set to air
sometime next year, said Lawton.

He said the show will tape the choir's rehearsal on Nov. 27
and interview students and other people who help organize the yearly event. In
addition, they will also film Thursday night's performance, he said.

"Christmas Showdown"
is meant to be "a celebration of the best holiday events and traditions in
America," according to an email sent to Lawton from the show's producers.

The show will feature two destinations in 22 categories like
"Mall Santa," "Christmas Towns" and "Neighborhood Lights." After the show,
viewers can vote for their favorite destinations online and decide which
attraction is the best in each category.

The Singing Christmas Tree will be up against the "Lobster
Trap Tree," which is located in Rockland, a fishing town in Maine.

Preparations for the taping started almost two weeks ago,
after the show's producers contacted Lawton, he said. They're not changing the
show for the cameras, but the producers did ask Lawton to have the choir sing "Jingle
Bells" during the taping because that song is in the public domain, and they can avoid royalty fees.

"It can cost them up to 20 grand to do a song that we are
doing in the tree," he said, so the students will sing an arrangement of the
song that was created last week by their accompanist, he said.

Lawton said he was excited to have the Singing Christmas
Tree highlighted by another major network. No dates have been set, but the
special will air sometime next year in late November or early December, according
to a press contact from the Travel Channel.

Lawton said he hopes viewers will vote for the concert when "Christmas
Showdown" airs.

"We hope everybody votes for us because it'd be cool if we won
our category," he said.